Like Ships Passing in the Night
by hatondog
Summary: Tag for "Clash of the Titans."  Jo and Zane continue at cross-purposes down the path made possible by the pardon.  This is my first fanfic, so all the usual caveats about my rank amateur status!  Chapter 4-the last one-is up!
1. Chapter 1

"You know, I really admire them. Henry and Grace. They found a way to make it work." Zane's gaze on Jo was steady. She looked up and spoke hesitantly, "Maybe it _can _work…".

Zane spoke quickly. "I want to talk to you after the ceremony—". "Shhh, it's starting!" Vincent stage-whispered, shooting Zane a warning glance which he ignored. "Jo—".

"Um, there's the reception we planned, and I, well, I have to help Vincent clean up, so…" Jo refused to meet Zane's eyes, her face filling with the all too familiar panic that so often appeared when their conversations turned personal.

Before she could finish the thought, the strange little officiant's voice cut in from the front of the room. Henry and Grace were standing in front of the canopy that Jo had strung over Henry's worktable. The wedding had begun.

"_Welcome, friends…or should I say, acquaintances?" _

Jo let her eyes wander over the twinkling lights strung around Henry's garage. "Perfect, just perfect…for them," she thought. Involuntarily, her eyes moved to Zane, standing beside her, before she forced them away. He wanted to talk—for what? To say "goodbye" again? So he liked their recurring private farewell parties. What guy wouldn't?, Jo thought ruefully. Truthfully, she'd initiated the first "farewell" herself—the idea of him leaving for good had made her want to wrap him around her, inside her, as tightly as possible. But she couldn't lose sight of the fact that, however drawn out their goodbyes, Zane planned to put his newfound freedom to use. He wouldn't stick around long enough to try making them work together. Jo was losing Zane again, and it would be so much worse if he knew the gasp-inducing pain that knowledge caused her.

If he caught her looking at him during a wedding with what she was sure was a dreamy expression, he'd assume she was imagining herself standing before a white canopy. With him, or at least with the _other_-him. Jo couldn't—wouldn't-risk letting Zane suspect just how often that image came to mind. As it was, she cringed at the memory of him catching her playing dress-up with the wedding gown she borrowed for Grace to consider…and such a beautiful gown it was, with beading that would catch the light…

Enough. This was Henry and Grace's moment. Jo forced her attention back to the ceremony.

_"Respect for the past, joy in the present, and commitment to the future."_

Zane frowned. "Zero for three," he thought. He glanced quickly toward Jo. She looked as delighted as any little girl with the vision of sparkly romance surrounding them, notwithstanding the occasional pile of tools pushed to the corners of Henry's garage. He remembered seeing a flash of the same look in her office as she swayed with a wedding dress, before the walls she locked her emotions behind sprang back into place. Sex was the only sure way he'd found to wipe that polite distance from her face. It should have been more than enough—what guy wouldn't love a relationship built on incredible, commitment-free sex? But it wasn't…not right for Fargo and, apparently, not enough for Zane.

He found the thought disturbing. And frustrating—despite her softening toward him over the weeks since he'd returned from space, Jo continued to hold him at arms' length. In the isolation chamber, she said that she had begun to trust him—encouraging, even though she took that small concession away in the next breath. Still, the woman gave him a gift he couldn't yet wrap his mind around, his _life_ back. The pardon Jo had fought for him to be given meant the world was no longer closed to him by his past mistakes. Freedom…Zane's line of thought stopped short. He _was _free to leave Eureka…and Jo, by all appearances, was willing to let him go.

A hopelessness fell over Zane that was at odds with the happy setting where they stood. With an effort, he forced his attention back to the ceremony.

"_Now, by the power vested in me by the United States of America, I pronounce you husband and wife."_

Henry and Grace kissed—their first kiss of _this_ marriage—and the room exploded with applause.

_EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA_

The next morning, Jo woke with a smile and sense of accomplishment. It had been a wonderful wedding, even if it hadn't been anything like the wedding she would have planned for herself. And Zane…._Zane. _By playing hostess through the evening, she'd once again avoided a discussion that could reveal her growing attachment to _this_-Zane, who'd shown little interest in moving beyond the truce they'd forged into tentative friendship.

Avoidance had made for a comfortable night, but left her with a vague sense of unease. In the end, they'd only had a moment together before Zane left the wedding reception for home. His face swam into memory…had he seemed a little _down_ as he said good night? Or just ill at ease with the intimacy of a celebration among friends in a group he'd never been welcome in before?

She replayed the memory in her mind. Zane _had_ seemed, well, serious. And he hadn't said good night.

He'd said goodbye.

Jo felt a cold chill run through her.

_EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA_

A quick drive-by of Zane's place confirmed that his motorcycle wasn't parked out front. By itself, not such a surprise since he often arrived early to his lab at GD. Jo rushed on to work, telling herself she was letting Zane's pretend good-byes undermine her better judgment. No doubt he'd be at his desk, delighted that he'd managed to ruffle her feathers yet again.

"Jo….Jo!" Jo stopped her near run through GD's rotunda and turned to face Allison.

"Jo, I wanted to give this to you myself. I just got it this morning." Allison looked into Jo's eyes, and her own softened. She took a breath and slowed her speech. "I'm sorry, Jo. I was hoping…well, I guess I was hoping that more than just one of us would get a happy ending in this…". Allison waved her hand, meaning, but unable to say, _timeline_. She extended a piece of paper to Jo. "If you want to talk…". With a small smile, Allison walked away.

Jo stared after her, unwilling to see whatever revelation was waiting for her on the paper. She had a brief, if irrational, impulse to crumple it and leave it behind, to leave GD and begin the day again. Instead, she dragged her eyes downward and began to read.

**TERMINATION OF OCCUPANCY, Form 1441-B**

Department of Defense Facility: Eureka, Oregon

Type of Occupancy: Employee residence

Name of Former Resident: G. Zane Donovan

Effective Date: Immediate

Zane's scrawled signature—the one he'd placed on pages of the pardon that had made _this _paper possible- was at the bottom of the form.

He was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Standing just inside the terminal doors at Portland International Airport, Zane rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve the tension that had built up over the day's ride from Eureka. He'd left before dawn, his mind a deliberate blank until he rolled past the town's welcome sign. For the next few miles, he found himself listening for sirens, half-expecting to be dragged back to Carter's cell. At the 50 mile mark, he stopped to tee up his iPod, cranking the volume until conscious thought was no longer an option.

In the relative quiet of the terminal, though, doubts began to surface. Zane had never been interested in introspection—choose a course and go had always been his way. As a kid, he'd been pushed to the fringes of social groups in school as he flew through grade levels, developing a thick skin and sarcastic wit that kept all but the most determined bullies at bay. Entering college at age 13 did nothing to improve his social standing. Eventually, though, the few female members of MIT's student body began to notice Zane's. By the time he'd been shown the door at Yale then Cornell, he was well practiced in attracting female companionship, and equally skilled in leaving it behind. It was the rare girl whose memory lingered, and he'd never questioned his decision to move on. Until now.

Sighing, he gave up ignoring the needling voice of doubt, noting with a grimace that it sounded suspiciously like Fargo's. "Really?" the voice said. "Sneaking out of town while everyone's asleep—what a man." "_Hey_," Zane answered. "I have to do this—I'm no good to anybody if I can't do this on my own terms." "Uh, huh." Here, an image of Fargo, arms crossed and eyes rolling came to mind. Zane shook his head. "Yeah, so you need to do this. Did you have to do it _this way_?"

"Shut UP," Zane growled, then looked around. A security guard was staring from a few feet away. Suddenly, Zane realized that an airport was not the best place to debate his inner nerd. Quite possibly, he didn't look entirely sane. He smiled disarmingly then strolled to the American Airlines ticket counter, hiking his duffle bag over his shoulder.

_EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA_

A week had passed since Zane had left Eureka and Jo's brain still felt wrapped in cotton wool. She moved robotically through her day, performing her job with mindless precision. Morning reports? Read. Shipment inspections? Done. Dispute among lab workers? Resolved. Check, check check…but every once in a quiet moment, a cold slap of reality broke through. _Gone._

Jo shook her head and focused on the keypad next to the townhouse door. GD security routinely did a home walk-through when an employee left to confirm that nothing was stolen or, in the case of a nasty termination, destroyed. Typically, the job fell to whoever drew the short stick on the week's duty roster, so Jo's decision to handle the inspection of Zane's place prompted raised eyebrows but no audible comment from her team. No one dared venture an opinion about why the head of GD security wanted to tour Donovan's former home, even if his departure from Eureka was the hottest topic in the town's gossip mill.

Jo stepped through the entrance hallway into the living room area. As with all GD residences, this one had been furnished to its occupant's specifications. The modern-leaning furniture was still in place—white couch against the wall, plasma TV above and a matching recliner opposite. A computer table was adjacent to the bedroom door, but the mess of laptops and cables that had previously adorned it was absent. Vaguely, Jo noticed that the empty space didn't really affect her one way or the other. The townhome felt unlived in, free of any echo of Zane. Still, her eyes skirted quickly away from the bedroom door.

On the other side of the room, multiple indentations remained in the pale carpet, made by pieces of the drumset that Zane kept but rarely played. Jo was idly wondering how he'd moved it on a motorcycle when her emotional curtain crashed down without warning. "You _son of a bitch_," she hissed, stomping toward the space where the drums once stood. Dropping to her knees, she pounded the divits in the floor. "You selfish, thoughtless, _worthless _excuse for a human being! How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!" A tiny voice in the back of Jo's mind (one sounding suspiciously like Carter's) expressed some concern over this behavior, but was drowned out by the wave of fury that poured from her. "I _knew _you'd do this, I just knew it, but…oh, you COWARD." Eventually, Jo ran out of expletives and simply sat, breathing hard.

Before she regained enough control to think better of it, Jo hit speed dial on her cell phone. ZANE DONOVAN flashed onto the screen. She waited, listening to the ringing as it went on, and on, and…of course. Zane must have turned in his phone with the rest of the GD equipment he'd been issued. No forwarding number—he hadn't bought another phone before leaving town. He really had wanted to cut all ties with Eureka and, like all things, he didn't do this half-assed.

Anger spent, Jo felt exhausted as she continued to look at her phone's display. "OK," she said to it. "You win. If naked didn't do it for you, how's this? I love you. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Maybe it was, the tiny voice whispered. "I'm just so…" Jo waved her hands, unable to find a word strong enough to express what she felt. "I can't believe you'd leave, but I get it. I do. You didn't choose to come here, and you didn't choose to stay. You had to—although, that _was_ your own fault. Hacking a federal account and taking three million dollars? Really?" Of course, she knew he'd given the seized drug money to a good cause, but the law enforcement officer in her couldn't completely forgive the means he'd taken to that end. "Still, I understand that this was like a prison and now the world is open to you. But…".

A horn honking outside jolted Jo out of her reverie. Abruptly aware that she was sitting in an empty townhouse talking to an inanimate object, Jo snapped the phone shut and stood, walking quickly to the front door. Hand on the doorknob, she paused.

"I would have gone with you, you know," she whispered, then left the room behind.

**-This is a short chapter, and a bit on the sad side. But things will start looking up in the next one. Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the description of Zane's living room!-**


	3. Chapter 3

Sitting at his mother's kitchen table in his pajamas, Zane grinned to himself. This aspect of his plan had certainly worked as intended. Within minutes of arriving, Zane had started doing a little time travelling of his own, regressing back to adolescence. He'd been content to allow his mom to fuss over him, rolled his eyes over comments about his appearance, and even whined "do I haaave to?" in response to being asked to hang up his wet towels rather than abandoning them to the bathroom floor. Yeah, it was good to be home, if only metaphorically.

"So," his mother said, pausing to drop a kiss on his head. "It's been wonderful to have you here. When are you leaving?" Zane snorted. "Try not to get all mushy on me, Mom. Did you pack my bag already, or can I at least take a shower before I go?"

"Zane," she said wryly. "I love that you came to tell me about the pardon yourself. And if I had my way, you know I'd keep you here forever. But I doubt you want to spend your life as an overgrown child. You have an incredible opportunity that you can't afford to waste. There won't be any more do-overs—you're damn lucky that the people you worked with in Oregon were willing to stand up for you this time. Seven of them put their necks on the line by giving references saying you deserved a second chance."

"I know." Zane spoke quietly, looking into his coffee cup. His mother reached over and tilted his chin up until their eyes met. "What is it you're planning to do? I know you have something in mind, I hear you pacing around at night like a caged cat." Zane's lips twitched, then he looked away again.

"I'm not sure yet. Coming here just felt like the right place to start, sort of like rewinding to square one. But you're right—I owe those people something. Just like I owed you an apology." Well, look at that, his mother thought. My boy is finally growing up.

"It's just…to them, I'm still _that guy._ Mr. Crappy Judgment. Yeah, they were willing to tell the DoD that I'm worth another shot, and maybe some of them believe it. But…" his voice dropped to a near whisper. "…having someone always wish I was someone I'm not…I don't know if there's a reset button for that."

"Who is she?" Zane looked up, startled. "She?" he asked. His mother raised her eyebrows. For all her son's brilliance, he'd never quite grasped all the nuances of social interaction. "Fine. I don't need to know. But you need to know this: you _have _used pretty crappy judgment at times. Taking that money…" she shook her head, "was not one of your better decisions. You're a grown man, and should have known better, but I also blame myself. You didn't exactly have a normal childhood, and maybe I should have made sure you did." Zane opened his mouth to object and she raised a hand for silence.

"But whatever you've done, no one can ever say your heart wasn't in the right place." She smiled. "Even though giving that money to the scholarship fund was stupid, it was _nice _stupid." That earned another snort from Zane. "So sorry dear, you're one of the good guys, like it or not. And if she—whoever she is—has any sense at all, she'll realize that. _If_ you give her a chance to, that is. Which is why, my son, you are getting out of those ratty pajamas and doing whatever it is you've been planning."

Laughing, Zane stood to hug his mother, then moved toward the guest room to pack. "Oh, and Zane?" He turned. "Pick those towels up." She smiled. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were raised by wolves."

_EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA_

Jo rubbed her eyes and tried valiantly to sit up straight, although the temptation to sink back into Fargo's couch was becoming irresistible as the night wore on. Around her, the office's other occupants didn't seem to be faring any better. Allison sat behind her desk with her head on one slowly sinking hand. Holly was slumped in her chair, oblivious to the papers slipping from her lap. And Fargo had given up sitting altogether, opting instead to lie on the floor.

"It's 2 a.m.," he said, voice pitching up just short of a whine. "Do we really have to finish reviewing all these Astraeus candidates tonight?"

"Yes, Fargo. We do," sighed Allison. "We have to post the candidates who will advance to the next round by 9 tomorrow—no, _this_—morning. And," she said with emphasis, causing Fargo to prop himself up. "We have the new particle physicist coming for an interview at 7." His eyes widened, and they both looked over at Jo.

She was now sitting ramrod straight. "Um, particle physicist? You're interviewing someone for…" her voice trailed off.

Allison and Fargo exchanged glances. "Yes," Allison said softly. "The interview is for Zane's position—his _old_ position. I'm sorry, Jo. We have to have someone with Zane's skills on the mission. He was the top pick for that slot, but…well, we need to start looking now at who can best fill that role."

Holly interjected, only vaguely aware of the tension swirling around the room. "See, if we can find someone who can handle the particle physicist position and is qualified to go to Titan, it will save so much time. And money-why hire two people to do the job of one, right? I mean, not that clearing Zane for Titan was easy, what with his criminal record and, well, _attitude_, but starting over again with two new people would be a nightmare. So when this chance came up, we-".

Fargo cut in as Allison loudly cleared her throat, a beat behind him in trying to stem the flow of words pouring from Holly. "We decided to get through the preliminary hiring stuff first, kind of working through the low-level issues. But we wouldn't hire anyone without having you clear them for security risks, Jo. We just didn't want to…er, bother you now with this on top of…".

Allison found her voice and spoke over Fargo. "You're busy enough managing the security assessments for the Astraeus candidates who are already in the process. But now that we've almost finished narrowing down the list for the next round, it would be helpful to have you talk to the new candidate, if you have time at 7? Then you can begin the pre-hire review if you agree that we should bring him on."

"And give us your opinion… boy, I _really_ want to hear what you think of this guy," said Fargo. Allison sighed and looked pointedly at Fargo until he shrugged and lay back on the floor. Jo just nodded in response to Allison's question. "Great. Let's get through this last report of test results, shall we?" said Allison. They all picked up a packet of papers.

Jo stared, unable to focus on the words before her. Replacing him. They were replacing Zane at GD. And on the mission, the one she'd been sure he longed to be a part of. Somehow, it hadn't occurred to her that Zane's job would eventually have to be done by someone else. Or that she would have to be involved in their hiring. Logically, it shouldn't matter—having someone else handle his job responsibilities didn't make Zane any more absent than he already was. But it was one more reminder that he was not only gone, but also not coming back.

This was going to be a very long morning.

**AN: Last chapter coming up! Credit to Niall Matter's twitter profile for the "raised by wolves" line.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own Eureka. And if I did, I wouldn't have cancelled it (looking at you, SyFy). **

Walking into her office at 6:45 a.m., Jo felt like a 20 pound weight had been strapped to her shoulders. She eyed the cot in her holding cell with longing. As head of GD security, all-nighters weren't unheard of, but were usually fueled by adrenaline. Her uninterrupted night of paper pushing had bordered on torture, and it wasn't over yet.

Next up was an interview with some brainiac that the DoD—and, apparently, Allison and Fargo—thought would be a suitable replacement for Zane. Even though Zane's tutoring for Astraeus meant phrases like "_orbital dynamics_" and "_harmonic oscillations_" no longer caused Jo's eyes to glaze over, the thought of listening to yet another geek boast about his or her accomplishments was almost unbearable. Only the knowledge that 8 solid hours of sleep awaited her when it was over made the prospect tolerable.

Jo dropped into her desk chair and pressed the power button on her tablet computer. Usually she'd have at least an hour to read a job applicant's resume, background checks and written assessments from prior interviewers before beginning her security evaluation, the last step before an up or down decision on hiring was made. Now a quick glance at the tablet's time stamp confirmed that she had less than 10 minutes remaining before the candidate was due at her door. Which made it all the more frustrating to find that no pre-evaluation documents were waiting in the file sharing database for her review.

Blowing out a sigh, Jo clicked over to her email inbox. Nothing. "Great," she muttered, reaching for the phone. No answer at Larry's extension. Ditto for the IT support line, which invited her to leave a message so they could get back to her at their convenience, no doubt after she'd no longer need their help.

Wonderful. Instead of just being underprepared, she was going to have to completely wing this interview. Jo mentally cursed Allison and Fargo again for not telling her sooner that they'd selected an applicant for Zane's position. Not only did she not like being out of the loop, it was humiliating to think that they'd expected her to crumble at the mention of his name. Wryly, she realized that this must be how Allison had felt while on psych leave, chafing at Carter's well-intentioned if slightly patronizing doting.

6:57 a.m. Too late now to do anything but wait for this meeting to be over. Jo folded her arms on her desk and put her head down to wait for the candidate's knock.

_EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA_

Jo's eyes snapped open. A noise had awakened her, but instinctive caution kept her from moving until she'd identified its source. Keeping her head on her arms, she strained to listen until she caught the nearby sound of shuffling. Feet on carpet. The carpet in her office. Her office, where she was supposed to be interviewing a job applicant right now. A hot wave of embarrassment flooded Jo, who looked up, fervently hoping that she hadn't drooled on herself while sleeping.

She blinked rapidly, trying to focus on the figure standing a few feet from her desk. "I'm sorry," she began. "Please sit down…". Jo's voice trailed off. Was she still asleep? That was one explanation for what she saw before her. The other was less comprehensible. Either she was dreaming, or the person standing before her in a sharply tailored gray suit was Zane.

She discarded the dream option after only brief consideration. True, she had once hallucinated Zane after one of Eureka's experiments-gone-wrong, but that vision had walked straight out of her memory, stubbly beard, fitted T-shirt and all. This Zane was clean shaven and—the detail which lacked any precedent Jo could remember—was wearing not only the gray suit but a neatly fitted tie. He looked positively _corporate_. Convinced that even her dreams wouldn't conjure a version of Zane she'd never imagined seeing, Jo concluded he had to be real. For a moment, all she could do was stare.

Across the room, Zane's amusement at seeing Jo snoring at her desk faded into wariness. As Jo continued to stare at him without speaking, he realized that he'd overlooked an inherent risk in meeting at her office. His eyes flicked to the arsenal of weapons on the wall behind her. Even the most optimistic calculation of his distance from Jo showed he couldn't reach her before she reached a gun. If she was truly as angry as he suspected, his life expectancy might have shortened substantially over the past few minutes.

"Man up," Zane thought to himself. "If you're going down, at least do what you came to do before it happens." He straightened slightly and looked into Jo's eyes. "I'm here for a job interview. It was scheduled for 7—." Despite his best intentions, Zane couldn't keep a slight smirk off his face as he looked at his watch. He'd been watching Jo sleep for nearly 20 minutes.

"In any event, this is my resume and the pre-evaluation reports you'll want to review." He stepped forward cautiously, watching Jo for sudden movement. When she ignored the manila envelope he extended toward her, Zane dropped it on the desktop. He sighed, lowering himself into the visitor's chair, eyes still fixed on Jo. She wasn't going to make this easy, but he'd expected that. Now he'd have to see whether she'd go along at all, or just have him thrown out of GD.

Jo broke her silence. "Zane, _what_ _the HELL…_". Her sleep-induced fog was gone, and she was fighting the urge to lunge at him when her cell phone flashed, indicating that an urgent message had arrived. She snatched it up and read the text:

JO:

GIVE ZANE A CHANCE. DO NOT KILL HIM.

JACK

"_Fine_", huffed Jo, slamming the phone down. She glared at Zane. "You want to play a game? I'm really _too_ tired and _too_ busy and _too sick of you_ for this crap right now, but since everyoneseems to be behind it, go right ahead. Tell me—why are you here playing dress-up, Zane?" And why the hell did you leave? The last went unspoken, but both Jo and Zane heard the question anyway.

"I told you. I'm here to interview for the particle physicist position—," Zane began. "It's YOUR job!" Jo snapped. "Or it was until you left it with no notice. What makes you think—." "Are you going to listen to me?" Zane growled. "Or do you just want to vent for a while. Because, if you do, I can come back later. Just let me know when you're done."

"_Great_," Zane thought. "That didn't take long—a month of planning down the drain in less than a minute." He took a deep breath and started again.

"I'm really sorry, Jo." At this, her mouth closed. Zane continued. "I didn't mean to upset you." Her eyebrows raised. "Even if that's exactly what I did…look, let me explain what I meant to happen here. Please-you can kick my ass when I'm finished." Jo's lips twitched slightly and she leaned back in her chair. "All right—at least that's something to look forward to. Go ahead."

Zane leaned forward, his expression serious. "Like I said before, Jo, you don't even realize what you did for me. By getting that pardon, you gave me my life back. I can't begin to thank you for that. Or the others—Carter, Allison, Fargo, Henry, Grace, even Parrish—every one of them signed a character reference for me. I don't know why they'd do that. I don't even _know _some of them very well—certainly not in this…um, well, not now."

Jo nodded, acknowledging his reference to the different timelines, then spoke. Her voice was less angry, but still tinged with confusion. "What does that have to do with why you left, Zane? Or why you're here now? Interviewing for your own job? That doesn't even make sense."

"It didn't to me either, at first. All I knew is that I felt like I'd gone from having FELON stamped on my forehead to EX-FELON. A huge difference for me, but probably not so much to anyone else. To them, I was still the same asshole who got his job at GD because he was too…_useful_…to rot in prison. But my get-out-of-jail-free card wasn't due to anything I did. Or at least," Zane's gaze on Jo turned intense. "Not anything I _remember_ doing. So I'm just an asshole who got lucky—_thanks to other people_." His eyes moved away, so he didn't see Jo flinch at his harsh tone.

"I've never given a shit what people think of me—most people, anyway—but I realized that if I stayed in Eureka, it couldn't just be because I wanted to. It has to be because I _deserve _to be here. And for it to work, people have to see that I didn't cut any corners. That means I have to earn my spot at GD, and on the Astraeus mission, just like everyone else. So I started from scratch. Bought this suit, went for the total reformed man look. Sent an application in to the DoD, interviewed with a bunch of bureaucrats. Thanks to the pardon, none of them knew they were dealing with a former menace to society." Zane grinned. "I even passed the psych tests. Turns out I'm narcissistic but stable. Who knew?" Jo gave him a small smile. "They could have asked me," she thought.

"Anyway, once I got the thumbs up from the Pentagon, I called Fargo. I asked him not to tell you when the application paperwork came in." Jo opened her mouth to speak, but Zane anticipated her question. "I _had_ to, Jo. If you had time to prepare before I came back, I'd never get through to you. You'd be shut down—even if I asked whether you gave a damn if I stayed or went, I don't think I'd get an honest answer." He laughed without a trace of humor. "_If_ I had the guts to ask, that is."

"Anyway, Fargo didn't tell me to fuck off—gotta thank him for that. Instead, he talked to Allison and, next thing I knew, here I am. The only question is whether I'll pass the Security eval." Jo looked down at the assessment reports she'd pulled from the envelope while Zane was speaking. She picked up one titled _Global Dynamics Background Check and Risk Assessment_. "According to this, you passed," she said quietly.

Zane shook his head. "Not what I meant." He stood, eyes locked with Jo's, and walked slowly around her desk. She turned toward him and he squatted, putting his hands on the arms of her chair. "I screwed up, Jo. In a way, we both did, but it's mostly my fault. After Fargo told me about…1947…I really did want to know what we'd been to each other, and if there was any chance we could have that again. But I didn't do the follow through—we just jumped into bed."

Jo frowned. "Don't get me wrong—I _loved_ every minute of being with you. But you weren't with _me, _you were making love to a ghost. And I let you do it, because it was fun and it was easy and…" Zane took another deep breath. "It was less scary than seeing if I could measure up to your memory."

Blinking back tears, Jo shook her head. "Not just your fault," she whispered. "I was scared too. Not just that you wouldn't measure up but, after I got to know you…" It was her turn to take a deep breath. "I was afraid I might like you-might _love_ you, maybe more than I did before. It doesn't make sense, but it felt like a betrayal of…the _other_-you. Especially since I had no idea if you—_this_-you-could ever feel the same." She looked into Zane's eyes. "I still don't."

"Josephina," said Zane. "We won't know until we try. After all, no one can see the future…time travel is impossible, right?" He smiled and leaned forward until their lips nearly touched. "But this time, I mean _really_ try—the whole getting to know each other thing before we get to, um, _know _each other anymore."

Jo pulled back. "Why, Mr. Donovan. Are you suggesting a…date? During a _job interview_? That's highly irregular."

"Well, Ms. Lupo," said Zane, grinning. "I said I'm reformed, not dead."

"Good thing," she responded. "Because you have a job to start in…" Jo looked at her watch. "About now." She stood and signed the bottom of the _Risk Assessment _form, then handed it to Zane. "And you have to pick me up for dinner by 7 tonight." He stood as well, while Jo's eyes traveled up and down his body. "Oh, and Donovan?" He grinned. "Ditch the suit. I'm really more of a jeans and T-shirt sort of girl."

"Yes, ma'am." Zane walked to the door of Jo's office and turned. "I'm really looking forward to…_working_ with you." He spoke softly. "On everything, Jo-Jo." And there it was—the look, the one he'd seen on Jo's face as she'd gazed around the sparkles and lace gracing Henry's garage.

As the door closed behind Zane, Jo smiled and picked up her cell phone.

"ALL CLEAR." She paused, then added Fargo and Allison's names to Carter's in the "To" list. "THANK YOU—FROM BOTH OF US."

Jo hit send and rose, stretching. Sleep was calling her, but it was no longer just a bridge to another bleak day. Zane's fresh start was going to be one for her too. Maybe, just maybe, it would be them that made it work this time.

**A/N: Drowning in mushiness…I suspect we won't see anything remotely like this on screen in Season 4.5, if ever. But thanks for reading-this has been fun!**


End file.
